Furniture



May 17, 1949. EBEL 2,470,113

FURNITURE Filed April 3, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Havvq Sebel I INVENTOR His Afiovmq H. SEBEL FURNITURE May 17, 1949. I

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April s, 1946 Patented May 17, 1949 OFFICE FURNITURE Harry Sebel, London, England Application April 3, 1946, Serial No. 659,291 In Great Britain January 28, 1946 2 Claims. (01. 155-194) The present invention relates to furniture and more particularly to seats and chairs.

Heretofore seats of chairs of the unupholstered type have comprised either a rigid support as in the ordinary wooden chair or metal chair or a wholly flexible support such for example as a deck chair.

An object of the invention is to provide a chair which whilst not having the unyielding quality of a rigid seat and back support has not the undesirable flexibility of a deck chair.

A chair according to the present invention includes a frame provided with suitable legs in which is suspended a support of sheet metal or other semi-stiff material for example moulded plywood, synthetic sheet material or the like, the support being suspended to the frame at the top and bottom only.

According to a further feature of the invention the chair according to the present invention is constructed so that it may be stacked, the feature being that there is a clear space on either side of the body support between this support and the frame enabling easy stacking. Other features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows in perspective a chair in accordance with the present invention,

Figure 2 shows on a large scale a detail of one method of supporting the seat portion on the frame,

Figure 3 shows a section on the line III-III of Figure 2,

Figure 4 shows a detail of the connection between the frame members of the chair,

Figure .5 is a cross section on the line VV of Figure 4,

Figure 6 shows a detail of an alternative method of suspending the seat portion,

Figure '7 is a section on the line VII--V1I of Figure 6, and

Figure 8 shows how the chair shown in Figure 1 can be stacked vertically.

Referring to the drawings Figure 1 shows a chair in which the frame is formed from metal tube, for example steel tubing. The frame is constructed from two lengths of tubing one length being formed into a U to form combined front legs and back frame I. The other length of tubing 2 is also formed into a U to form the back legs 3 and the seat frame 4. The portion forming the seat frame 4 preferably is bent above the point at which the two members cross.

The member 2 is formed into a narrower U than the portion I so that it passes between the legs of the member I, the two being joined as shown in Figures 4 and 5 by a junction piece 5 which may be welded to each leg. The angle at which the two members are joined is such that the chair legs 3 and 6 incline at the same angle to the floor. Ferrules I are provided at the bottom of each leg these ferrules conveniently being of rubber or other elastic material so as to deaden the noise made by movement of the chair.

The chair frame is provided with arms or lugs 8 which may be welded in position on the frame and formed from semi-circular pressings the ends of which are conveniently formed with flats 9 which are apertured to receive a nut and bolt [0. The sides of the member 8 are conveniently flattened at ll so that the nut is prevented from turning when the bolt is turned.

Onto the arms or lugs 8 is suspended a seat portion l2 which is pressed from sheet steel or other suitable material into a proper shape and is apertured so that it may be attached to the arms or lugs 8 by the nuts and bolts II]. In between the seat portion l2 and the arms 8 there is interposed a rubber or other composition washer l3 which insulates the seat from the frame. To finish the seat portion 12 and to improve the peripheral strength when the seat is formed from sheet metal the edge is turned back to form a hem [4.

By suspending the seat portion to the frame only at the top and bottom it gives suficiently to the user to provide comfort and at the same time it remains substantially rigid laterally bending or yielding only in the longitudinal direction.

This chair can be stacked very easily and by forming the frame so that the frame members where they cross are inclined at the same angle to the fioor upon which the chair rests the stacking is truly vertical; this is clearly shown in Figure 8 which shows two chairs stacked together. It will be seen that provided this is so the legs may be curved or otherwise shaped outwardly away from the enclosed angle between them and the seat and back frames may similarly be curved or bent outwardly from the enclosed angle between them where they cross and the chairs may still be stacked vertically.

Figures 6 and '7 show an alternative method of fixing th chair portion I2 to the frame in which it is hooked to the arms or lugs 8, a keyhole aperture being formed in the arcuate seat member I2 which engages with a round-headed pin I5 riveted or welded to the ends of the arms or lugs 8.

owing to the'vertical stacking the height-itolwhicht the chairs may be stacked is limited only by the vertical space available.

What I claim is:

1. A chair of the stacking type comprising a pair of inverted U-shaped members forming the frame and legs of said chair, one of saidimembers having its legs at a wider spacing-thanuthei other of said members and positioned outwardly of the respective legs of said other member--and l extending in crossing relation thereto, said legs at each side of said chairt-beingirigidly joined at'their:v poi-ntsof crossing by; connecting members the exteriorl. dimensions of v which are wholly: confined. within the. spaces between saidlegs at the-cross-' ings the-reof and a=laterally-bent sheet of self-- sustainingspring-y material attached at ,its; ops-'- posi-te; ends to: the us-shapedamembersat the.

closed endsvthereof and being free of attachment alongs-itsside-edges, said: sheet alsobeing laterally; spaced from thesides of the back-supporting portiun-otsaid frameto provide forrpassingthe legstof narrower spacing, of asimilanchairbetween I the lateral edges. of said sheet and: the

4 sides of said back-supporting portion to permit stackin said chairs in vertically superposed relation. 7

2. A chair as defined in claim 1 in which said U-shaped member having its legs at the narrower spacing is bent forward and downwardly adjacent the bend of the U in a plane at an angle to the plane of the portions thereof which extend in; crossing relation to: the?- U -shaped: member having legs at wid'er spacing; the planeof said bent portion extending generally parallel to the plane of the seat of the chair.

HARRY SEBEL.

REFERENCES CITED The-:following references are of record in the filesof thisipatent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 963 183 I-Iofimanr. g July;9,;1935 219,589 Mayor-a .Septi16p1879' 479,393 Bates i J 11151 263 1892 1,969,313 1 Meeker:- .Augi 7 1934 2,290,346 Michaelis July; 2.1j v19422.

FOREIGN PATENTS N umber Country Date 431-,563 Great Britain 1-. -l July-8; 1935" 774,614 France sept -24511934 r 776,490 France; Nov" 8, 1934: 777,57'0 France .Dec; 15 1934 8012245 France; May 16, 1936 

